1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a door brace for a side-by-side refrigerator including laterally spaced compartment doors, each of which includes sections of differing widths.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In a conventional side-by-side refrigerator, freezer and fresh food compartment doors align along a vertically extending divider wall or mullion, with the mullion extending in a single plane essentially from the top to the bottom of the refrigerator. Although this style of refrigerator has certain advantages over either a top-mount or a bottom-mount refrigerator wherein the freezer compartment is arranged vertically above or below the fresh food compartment respectively, certain disadvantages are also presented. For instance, since the opening provided in a household kitchen for side-by-side, top-mount and bottom-mount style refrigerators is essentially standard, top-mount and bottom-mount refrigerators typically have wider shelves in each of the fresh food and freezer compartments as compared to the corresponding shelves in a side-by-side refrigerator.
For this reason, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to accommodate rather wide food items, such as trays, cake pans, platters, turkeys and the like, on a given shelf in the fresh food compartment of a side-by-side refrigerator, while the same item(s) could be readily placed on a corresponding shelf in a top-mount or bottom-mount refrigerator. The same is true with respect to the width of different freezer shelves. For example, it is not always possible to store frozen pizza and other large food items widthwise in a side-by-side refrigerator freezer compartment, while such items can be easily arranged widthwise in a freezer compartment of a top-mount or bottom-mount style refrigerator. To compensate for this disadvantage, it is not uncommon for owners of side-by-side refrigerators to purchase a second refrigerator for additional food storage space.
Alternatively, a side-by-side refrigerator can be constructed with fresh food and freezer compartments of varying widths as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,447. With this advantageous construction, a consumer can arrange larger width items in a larger width area of the refrigerator, while small width items can be placed on shelves located in a narrower width section. In order to seal each of the varying width compartments, the refrigerator illustrated in the '447 patent includes fresh food and freezer compartment doors having varying widths. That is, each of the fresh food and freezer compartment doors includes an inner lateral portion defined by offset vertical sections interconnected by a lateral section.
It is also known in the art of refrigerators to provide structural support at corner portions of fresh food and freezer compartment doors where hinges are attached to pivotally mount the fresh food and freezer compartment doors to the cabinet. However, these door supports do not address problems associated with thermal bowing in other portions of the door which can negatively affect the integrity of a door seal employed to prevent cool air from escaping the refrigerator. A particular problem exists with the type of refrigerators discussed above that have offset vertical sections. That is, the laterally offset sections define a zone of interruption that takes a significant amount of strength out of the overall door. Based thereon, this zone of interruption can experience a significant amount of thermal bow which can cause a breach of the door seal at this zone. In addition, unless adequately supported, refrigerator doors having offset vertical sections may also be limited in the amount or weight of items that can be stored in bins or shelves on the door. Too much weight could cause the seal about the door to unseat allowing cool air to escape from the refrigerator.
Based on at least these reasons, there exists a need in the art for a reinforcing member for a refrigerator door. More specifically, there exists a need for a reinforcing member that can increase the structural integrity of offset vertical sections of a varying width refrigerator door so as to increase the overall storage capacity of the door, while assuring door seal integrity.